Under current interpretations of South African law, the user is generally regarded as the most likely copyright owner for works created with AI tools. That is the view of law firm Wright Rose-Innes, on the basis that the user directed the creation process through their input. However, it acknowledged this approach was not without controversy. “Where the user’s contribution is minimal, for example, where a simple or generic prompt produces a highly complex output, it becomes difficult to justify full ownership based on human creativity alone.”
